Iran politics: Rowhani takes a centre line in his cabinet nominees

August 8th 2013

Hassan Rowhani's 18 nominations for cabinet positions reflect his stated desire for a practical approach to foreign policy and economic management. Although he had two weeks from his inauguration on August 4th to put forward nominations to parliament, Mr Rowhani has done so immediately, marking his determination to start work quickly. Some nominations, however, suggest little emphasis on—as he called it during the election campaign—"desecuritising" Iran's domestic political scene, possibly after discussions with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Making an effort to revive Iran's stalling economy will be Mr Rowhani's priority, to ensure that he maintains a social contract between the Iranian population and the government of the Islamic Republic.

Most cabinet nominees are centrists, including several who served under the reformist president, Mohammed Khatami (1997‑2005), or his conservative but pragmatic predecessor, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989‑1997). All nominations—including deputy-level appointments that will emerge a little further on—need parliamentary approval and some may be controversial given the conservative majority among members of the Majlis, Iran's parliament.

It will take time for the style and substance of the Rowhani government to emerge, especially as he has promised to allow ministers to follow their own initiative. The first vice-president, Eshaq Jahangiri, may play a co-ordinating role, and, as he has acted as an economic adviser to Mr Rowhani, this may extend to economic management, which might also involve the president's chief of staff, Mohammed Nahavandian, the head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines.

Foreign ministry nominee indicates desire for dialogue

The nomination of Mohammed Javad Zarif as foreign minister reflects the new president's determination to facilitate dialogue with the West. Mr Zarif served as Iran's ambassador to the UN between 2002 and 2007 and the US-educated diplomat is well known in Washington. Given the purges carried out in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Mr Rowhani's predecessor), Mr Zarif's appointment would raise morale among pragmatists and career diplomats. Mr Zarif will also have influence over senior appointments, including deputy foreign ministers, and his role could be crucial in nuclear negotiations if, as rumoured, these are to be led by the foreign ministry rather than the Supreme National Security Council.

After reports in local media that Ayatollah Khamenei rejected Mr Rowhani's original choices for the Ministries of Defence; Intelligence; and Culture and Islamic Guidance, the three nominations are nonetheless close to the new president and all have worked under the previous presidents, Mr Rafsanjani or Mr Khatami. Hossein Dehghan, a former commander within the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has been nominated as defence minister. The head of the Political-Ideological Organisation of the Army in 2000‑09, he is close to the supreme leader and is also a member of Mr Rowhani's Moderation and Development party. The nominee for intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, 59, is a cleric and member of the Majles‑e Khobregan (the Assembly of Experts), the body that nominates and supervises the supreme leader. Ali Jannati, 64, has been nominated as culture and Islamic guidance minister and is considered an ally of Mr Rafsanjani and more sanguine than his father, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the watchdog Guardian Council. The younger Mr Jannati was a deputy minister of culture and Islamic guidance under Mr Rafsanjani's presidency and ambassador to Kuwait during Mr Khatami's term.

Interior and justice ministers will disappoint reformists

The nominee for the Ministry of the Interior, Abdulreza Rahmani Fazli, 56, has been director of the Supreme Audit Court, which assesses government departments in terms of the budget endorsed by parliament. Mr Fazli is an ally of Ali Larijani, the parliamentary speaker, and his nomination will disappoint reformists hoping for someone more liberal in a post responsible for appointing police chiefs and licensing political parties.

The nomination of Mostafa Pour‑Mohammadi as justice minister may also concern reformists, even though the office has limited powers and the minister is chosen from four nominees from the head of the judiciary. Mr Pour‑Mohammadi was interior minister under Mr Ahmadinejad from 2005 to 2008 and was previously, during the 1980s, a prosecutor of the revolutionary courts and then deputy intelligence minister at a time of widespread executions.

The nominations for the Ministries of Education and Health are clearly centrists. Slated for health, Mohammed Ali Najafi, 62, was a founder member of the Executives of Construction Party, formed by members of the Rafsanjani government, in which he was education minister. He later served as head of the Planning and Budget Organisation under Mr Khatami. Hassan Hashemi, 54, a professor of ophthalmology at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, the nominee as health minister, was a ministerial adviser in the Khatami years. One nomination that may be sensitive with parliament—given that the portfolio covers the universities, where there has been controversy over Islamicisation—is Jafar Mili‑Monfared as science, research and technology minister. He was deputy minister of the same ministry during the Khatami era and briefly the caretaker minister.

Economic management: a reform agenda?

Mr Rowhani has expressed a desire to reduce state involvement in the economy, but Mr Ahmadinejad's emphasis on "justice" and criticism of corruption may limit any swift return to the free-market emphasis that developed under the presidencies of Mr Rafsanjani and Mr Khatami. Nonetheless, Mr Rowhani's nominees for economic portfolios are all individuals clearly associated with reform, which may cause tension given warnings from some "principlists" that he should not appoint anyone associated with the post-election unrest of 2009.

Most likely to face parliamentary opposition is probably Bizhan Namdar Zanganeh, 61, who is nominated to return as oil minister, a post he held under Mr Khatami, and who was energy minister under Mr Rafsanjani. In November 2002 Mr Rowhani, when secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, sent a letter to the then president, Mr Khatami, criticising Mr Zanganeh, describing a controversial gas contract with the UAE as illegal.

As economic affairs minister, Mr Rowhani has nominated Ali Tayebnia, 53, whose background is mostly academic: he was adviser to a reformist candidate, Mohammed Aref, during the presidential campaign. Mahmoud Vaezi, deputy foreign minister in the late 1980s and nominated as communications minister, will also hold an important economics brief, in that the ministry has vast revenue and was last year the third-highest depositor of money into the Treasury after the Ministry of Petroleum and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (which collects taxes).

Mr Rowhani has nominated his election campaign chief, Mohammed Reza Nematzadeh, 68, as industry, mining and commerce minister. He held the post under Mr Rafsanjani, and was deputy oil minister under both Mr Khatami and Mr Ahmadinejad. Hamid Chitchian, nominated as energy minister, is a former IRGC intelligence officer, but has also held various posts within energy planning and power generation, and was a senior adviser under Mr Ahmadinejad. The energy and petroleum ministries were merged in 2011 under Mr Ahmadinejad's watch, but now appear to have been reconstituted as separate portfolios.

Although Mr Rowhani was far from precise during the election campaign on his economic plans, his choice of ministers suggests that he will seek to reduce the extent of cash hand-outs, to expand private banking and the privatisation programme. But the government's room for manoeuvre will be seriously curtailed if no progress can be made in moderating US and EU sanctions.